Let iTunes expert Kirk McElhearn help you become an iTunes power user and get the most out of iTunes 11 whether you want to enjoy your own media or try cloud-based options like podcasts and iTunes Radio.

With a question-and-answer approach, Kirk shares his love of music and helps you understand the process of bringing media into iTunes, tagging it, adding album artwork, and organizing it into playlists. You'll also learn the best ways to transfer media to an iPad, iPhone, or iPod.

Find answers to questions about how to:

Play: This chapter covers how to play audio and video, and how to make quick playlists with Genius and Up Next. It also describes how to bring back the left-hand sidebar. Or, you can learn to love the new Source pop-up menu.

Rip: Add content to iTunes with detailed steps for "ripping" music CDs and audiobooks. (If you want to rip--or tag--audiobooks so they play nicely from iTunes, don't miss this chapter!) Also, find general advice for ripping video DVDs and learn which file formats work in iTunes.

Buy: Become expert at managing and sharing iTunes Store media (including free podcasts and iTunes U courses), and understand what the iTunes Store does well--and not so well. Plus, discover other online music vendors, whether you want to download or stream content.

Tag: Kirk describes himself as "tag obsessed." If that description fits you, or if you just want to take control of your tags, this chapter is for you. Tags are descriptive bits of information--known to geeks as "metadata"-- that describe your media. You can sort and filter based on tags, giving you myriad ways to manipulate your iTunes library. Learn which tags to bother changing, how to tag a file to put it in a particular library, how to add lyrics and album art, and more.

View: iTunes has more views than flavors of ice cream at the corner grocery. Get the scoop on how to switch between views, where your album art is (or is not), and so forth. This chapter also discusses plain-as-vanilla contextual menus and Apple's new menu flavor -- the popover.

Organize: Make a simple playlist of romantic songs, workout songs, or whatever theme you like. Also, create smart playlists that, for example, comprise only your 5-star faves or tunes you haven't heard recently. You'll also find answers to questions about operational issues like dealing with a huge library, multiple libraries, and where iTunes puts your media files... including ebooks in 10.9 Mavericks.

Search: Find media in iTunes, plus learn tricks such as searching based on star rating or locating duplicates.

Sync: You've put all your media in iTunes... now, how do you transfer it to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch? This chapter answers questions about manually managing the transfer and has help for people who have too much music. It also notes options for playing media through a second- or third-generation Apple TV.

Cloud: Access content you bought from Apple even if you never actively downloaded it, from your computer or an iOS device. Plus, try iTunes Match, a subscription service that uploads your music to the cloud even if you didn't buy it from Apple.

Share: Find answers to questions about sharing iTunes library media with others, primarily through Home Sharing on a local network.

Burn and Print: Learn how to copy music from iTunes to a CD. Also, get directions for printing a song list, for example, to include in the jewel case of said CD.

Back Up: This short chapter has tips and inspiration for backing up your (potentially irreplaceable) iTunes media.

Extend with AppleScript: Mac users can make iTunes do more with AppleScript. Learn about key AppleScripts that you can download to make iTunes jump through even more hoops.

Kirk McElhearn

Kirk McElhearn is a freelance writer, journalist, and translator. He has written and co-written a dozen books on the Macintosh, covering both software and hardware. As a journalist, Kirk has written articles for a variety of publications, including Macworld, iLounge and TidBITS. His blog, Kirkville, covers Macs, iPods, books, music, and more.